Reliability of cartilage digestion and FDA–EB fluorescence staining for the detection of chondrocyte viability in osteochondral grafts

• Published in: Cell and tissue banking Vol. 19; no. 3; pp. 399 - 404
• Main Authors: Qi, Jianhong, Cao, Famin, Han, Yunning, Xie, Di, Song, Hongqiang, Chen, Bin, Zhou, Lu
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Dordrecht Springer Netherlands 01.09.2018; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Animals; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Biomedicine; Cartilage (articular); Cartilage, Articular - cytology; Cell Biology; Cell Survival; Chondrocytes; Chondrocytes - cytology; Digestion; Ethidium - analysis; Ethidium bromide; Fluorescein; Fluorescein diacetate; Fluoresceins - analysis; Fluorescence; Fluorescent Dyes - analysis; Grafting; Grafts; Knee; Knee Joint - cytology; Life Sciences; Male; Microtomy - methods; Skin & tissue grafts; Staining; Staining and Labeling - methods; Swine; Transplant Surgery; Fluorescence staining; Osteochondral allografts; Cartilage section; Chondrocyte viability; Cartilage digestion
• ISSN: 1389-9333; 1573-6814
• DOI: 10.1007/s10561-018-9685-2

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the reliability of cartilage digestion and fluorescein diacetate-ethidium bromide (FDA–EB) fluorescence staining for the detection of chondrocyte viability in osteochondral grafts. Sixteen fresh osteochondral grafts were harvested from pig knee condyles, and the articular cartilage tissue was preserved. Each cartilage graft was cut into two 70-µm thick pieces and randomly allocated to Group A or Group B. The cell viability of Group A was detected using FDA–EB fluorescence staining of the digested cartilage, and the viability of Group B was detected with FDA–EB fluorescence staining of cartilage sections. Comparisons of chondrocyte viability and correlation analyses of the two groups were performed using the paired sample t test and Pearson correlation test, respectively. No significant difference was found in the chondrocyte viability between Groups A and B ( p  > 0.05), and a strong correlation was observed (r = 0.70, p  < 0.05). Therefore, cartilage digestion with FDA–EB fluorescence staining is a reliable method for detecting chondrocyte viability in osteochondral grafts.